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All kids love the water, but for some…we need to be more diligent.

All kids love to swim, the pool and beach are two of my kids favorite places to be. It wouldn’t be a weekend if my boys were swimming and splashing. I taught my boys from infancy how to float on their backs, blow bubbles, and doggie paddle to the wall for safety. All babies can learn, all kids should and can learn. Don’t let a swim coach deviate your goals of having a happy, healthy and safe swimmer…no matter what your child’s prognosis!

Over all, individuals with autism died on average almost 36 years younger than the general population. Almost 28 percent died prematurely by injury, which includes complications from epileptic seizures and suicide (both epilepsy and depression are common in this population).

According to the study, individuals with autism also die by accidental injury at a rate three times higher than the general population. The rate was particularly high for children younger than 15 years of age.

According to researchers, almost half (46 percent) of unintentional injury deaths for children with autism occurred by drowning – and the “danger years” are between ages five to seven.

Children with autism drown 160 times more frequently than their neurotypical peers.

Several earlier studies show similar patterns of a significantly increased risk for accidental drowning for those with developmental disabilities, including autism, though the range of risk varies widely.

The good news is that something can be done. These are preventable deaths. Public health officials have been enacting ways to prevent accidental drowning in this specific population. There are Drowning Prevention Task forces throughout LA, OC and SD counties. Look up your local chapter!

Providing accessible water safety courses and swimming lessons specifically tailored to those with autism are cost-effective to implement and have almost immediate impact. Such programming have the double bonus of providing both safety and recreational benefits for autism families. Some counties offer scholarships and free tuition based on need funds. There are swim schools who take Charter School funds to help with costs. Ask around!

This is why Special Fishies was created. We want to get the word out that these kids can learn water safety and find freedom in the water! We want to educate every coach, parent and caregiver on techniques and tools that we use everyday and get results with. Check out our YouTube videos to see the joy the water brings to our fishies, and we’ll be posting some educational videos soon!

The best gift for kids under the tree this year will last them a lifetime!

While a swimming pool won’t fit under the Christmas tree — not to mention that it would be impossible to gift wrap — there’s a better way to give this life-changing experience to children, and fortunately, it’s a lot more practical.

The gift of swimming lessons is one of the most valuable things you can give to children. It’s not the latest gadget, and it might take some time to understand the importance, but ultimately this can be a gift that will never be forgotten and used for the rest of their lives.

The gift of safety

We think of swimming lessons for children as a way to make it safer for them to be around water – and that’s the most important reason to consider giving swim lessons as a holiday gift. Drowning statistics for children remain alarmingly high – especially in areas like California where water is a constant part of the environment. Water safety is a precious gift, but the benefits definitely don’t stop there.

Amazing health benefits

A study by Griffith University found that children as young as 3 years old who were actively engaged in swimming lessons were often months and sometimes years ahead of non-swimmers in certain developmental milestones. Medical experts attribute this to the movements involved in swimming, which help to develop nerve fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Preparing for the future

Most gifts have a specific lifespan. Gadgets get outdated or forgotten. The gift of swimming lessons is an experience that can benefit over a lifetime. Once learned, swimming is a skill that’s rarely forgotten. It increases confidence and teaches important social skills like team-building that children will use throughout their lives.

The gift of swim lessons might just be the only present you can give this holiday that offers your child so many benefits. No batteries are needed, and you don’t have to worry about an Internet connection.

We know that teaching children to swim is a good idea for their own water safety, but now it appears that children to learn to swim at a young age also achieve many developmental milestones earlier than children who aren’t exposed to this learning opportunity.

The study was undertaken by Australia’s Griffith University. Researchers surveyed the parents of 7,000 children under the age of five from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Then, researchers went on to test 180 children between the ages of three and five. The results were conclusive. Children who participate in swimming lessons during these early years also achieve a wide range of skills earlier than the normal population.

The results

The head of the study notes that many of these skills are those which help young children transition into their first years of schooling. The children achieved physical milestones faster and they scored significantly better in visual-motor skills. Their oral expression was advanced and they performed better overall in the areas of literacy and numeracy.

The children in the study were also found to have better balance and coordination than their peers who weren’t actively learning to swim. The Griffith University concluded that the earlier you start your child in a swim class, the more pronounced this jump in development might become.

Increased cognitive development

Some of the findings of the study seem logically connected. For example, development of better motor skills is an obvious outcome of swimming lessons, as learning to swim involves the use of muscles and coordination to develop motor skills.

What the Griffith University researchers did not expect to see was that cognition in these children was also significantly improved. The study determined that swimming helps to advance cognitive development by as much as 10 months ahead of the normal population.

Cognitive development has to do with higher levels of reasoning in areas like reading, writing, and arithmetic. These little swimmers are in many ways setting the stage for a life of academic success.

Better language skills

Learning to swim at this young age can help children develop deeper usage of language. It’s believed that this is because swimming instructors introduce children to a new set of vocabulary words. “Swim under the water to the yellow triangle,” might not be something they would otherwise hear.

Learning to swim can expose young minds to important speech elements such as prepositions, and useful concepts like shapes and colors. Interacting with these new pieces of communication can help them to improve their own use of language.

Emotional and social aptitude

Developing intelligence is important, but just as important is learning to function with others. The study found that young children involved in group swimming lessons were about 15 months ahead of the normal population in their social and emotional development.

These young swimmers tended to understand direction better, which helps them adapt to listen and respond to teachers as they move into the classroom. They also become more comfortable interacting with their peers, as well as with adults other than their own parents.

The researchers concluded that there is a clear connection between emotional maturity and the group dynamics of swimming lessons.

Water safety is a key benefit of teaching young children to swim. Now, there’s research showing that it can also help boost early childhood development in cognitive and social areas. Swimming lessons can help your young child learn how to learn.

Group swimming lessons offer several advantages

If you have a young child that’s just starting to show interest in swimming, you may be tempted to sign him or her up for private swim lessons. It’s understandable to think that private swim lessons may be superior to group lessons, but group swimming lessons have several advantages that you may be overlooking.

If you’re interested in signing your child up for swim lessons and are wondering whether group swim lessons are the right choice, read on to learn about the benefits of a group setting.

1. Learn from other children

Peer pressure is a powerful motivator, even in young children. If you’ve ever dropped your child off at daycare where he or she is exposed to other children, you likely were amazed when you picked them up only to realize that they’d learned a valuable skill like using utensils or sitting in a chair at a table, all simply based on learning from other children.

When your child is involved in group swimming lessons, they’re not only paying attention to the instructor, but they’re also watching other kids as well. When they see another child jumping in the water or having fun splashing, it will likely give them that extra boost of confidence they need. This is simply not possible with private lessons where all instruction is one on one, which doesn’t allow your child to see other children and how they react in the water.

Typically swim instructors will spend time with each child during a group lesson, which allows the children in the class to see how others are performing. This can help to put your child at ease when it’s their turn with the instructor.

2. Save money

Costs are lower with group swimming lessons. You still receive quality instruction, but at a lower price, which can make swim lessons more affordable for a wider range of families.

3. Less focus on your child

This may seem counterintuitive, but group swim lessons can provide less focus on your child throughout the entire lesson, which can be a good thing. Rather than spending 100 percent of the time focused on your child and your child alone, group swimming lessons allow for a bit of rest and play time while other students are receiving instruction. This is beneficial especially for young children who may have trouble with constant instruction for long periods of time.

Kids who are struggling to learn a new task often need some period of downtime to recover and refocus during a swim lesson, which is what’s provided in the group setting.

4. Build relationships with other parents

Being a parent of young children can be difficult at times. You’re likely exhausted and struggling to find adult interaction with other parents of young children. Signing up for group swimming lessons connects you with other parents and children who are close in age to you and your child. You never know, you may develop a relationship that could turn into a lifelong friendship for you and/or your child.

Ready to sign up for group swimming lessons?

If your child is intimidated by the water or loves it and needs swim lessons, reach out to us to learn more about our wide variety of group swimming lessons. We offer swim lessons for all ages including toddlers, pre-school and school-age children. Call (714) 352-9714 or through our online contact form.

Swim lessons for special needs children are a powerful way to help develop self-confidence and self-esteem.

All children should learn how to swim and be safer around the water. It’s a skill that could save their lives, and it’s a skill that can be successfully taught to children with special needs.

Swim lessons for special needs children have benefits that go beyond learning this necessary skill. Children learn to be safer around water. Some children with sensory disorders find water and showers very stressful and learning to swim helps them cope with this stress. Here are some of the many additional benefits.

Boosts confidence

Swim lessons offer special needs children a restriction-free moment for the first time in their lives. It can condition young bodies while it bestows confidence and a sense of achievement.

Safety is the primary objective of teaching special needs children to swim. All children – but especially this group – lack an understanding of the danger posed by water.

Children who learn to swim also develop a better spatial awareness that comes as they learn to use reference points while exploring water depth. This increase spatial awareness, along with the development of natural balance, can help prevent children with special needs from drowning if they accidentally fall into the water.

Physical benefits

The pool is a relaxing and fun environment for exercise for kids of any ability level. Water resistance helps to build muscle tone and general strength. Learning to swim helps children with disabilities develop motor skills, coordination, and balance. They’re isolating muscle groups and learning how to coordinate different motions as they learn to move through the water and float.

Special needs children with movement restrictions often thrive in the pool. The water helps to improve their range of motion. Remember that buoyancy in water reduces our body weight by 80 percent. Swim lessons provide an environment offering freedom of movement, as well as safety skills.

Emotional and social benefits

Swim classes for special needs children are a powerful way to help develop self-confidence and self-esteem. Learning to swim teaches them new skills and offers a sense of achievement as they are encouraged to explore their boundaries and discover new abilities.

Swim lessons are designed especially for special needs children based on potential and restrictions, and the object is to help them progress to the point where they can function in a group. The progression exposes them to new social interactions, helping to prepare them for the dynamics of interaction in the world around them.

It’s not uncommon for non-verbal special needs children to interact with their swim instructor and other participants. They begin to increase their vocabulary so they can describe their experiences in the water. The physical act of swimming has been shown to balance both hemispheres of the brain. Swimming often helps calm special needs children who act out. It’s a time of intensive sensory stimulation that other environments can’t provide.

Swim lessons for special needs children can change their lives. If you’re interested in learning more about our swim lessons, feel free to reach out today by phone at 714-352-9714 or by visiting our contact page.

Adopt a Fishie Fund

Follow your adopted Fishie through their swim progress with email updates and pictures! ACTUALLY see where your money goes, how it is used and why we so badly need your generosity.

Please meet a few of our scholarship recipients…

Jesus D. 9 yo with severe autism, fear and nonverbal. Water safety, Social skills, and sensory play gives Jesus a smile that is contagious to all around him.

Elijah 18 yo who contacted encephalitis when he was an active 14 yo football player and student. He loves to protect the littles and faces his fears each time in the water. Elijah has benefited from our learn to swim, swim group, canine assisted swim and ALL-INCLUSIVE beach days. Elijah found us through his case manager and doctor at CHOC. Our goal is to get him moving, stronger and build confidence so he can once again compete in a sport, and he is stoked to do it for SPECIAL OLYMPICS.

Jeremiah and Cayson- Jeremiah, 12 yo, is an intelligent and talented swimmer who has ASD. He knows all 4 strokes and we hope to streamline him into the Nadadore Swim Team. His older brother, Cayson was in a car accident when he was 3 yo. He is smart, funny, and happens to be quadriplegic with physical and brain trauma.

These amazing boys came to us through a fellow non profit, Angels of Americas Fallen, who helps children who lost a parent overseas protecting our freedoms.

Kaden, 12 yo with ASD and comorbid disorders, is learning to swim strokes which is helping him with his motor delay and coordination.

THESE ARE JUST A TASTE OF THE FACES

OF FISHIES THAT NEED OUR HELP.

#TOGETHERWECAN

We have 6 more fishies on our waiting list.

All needs: Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, anxiety and amputee
To donate go to the Ways to Help or email specialfishiesjp@gmail.com

Rylan Stone Shields Born September 24, 2009- July 11, 2017 in Willits California in Mendocino County California.

Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California. Over 3hr drive to Sacramento and San Francisco.

The Need

July 12, 2017“Yesterday my son unlocked a door, broke through a gate and drowned in the pool. I didn’t get to him on time. I tried cpr until the paramedics arrived. They took him to the hospital and worked on him for 50 minutes. He didn’t survive.” Jennifer Risch, Rylan’s mom.

July 22, 2017“I feel like I’m stuck at the bottom of a well, curled up in the fetal position. I can’t escape this. I can’t close my eyes to block out the visuals and I can’t cover my ears to block out my thoughts. I can’t sleep. I have to force myself to eat. I don’t want to be alone and I can’t stand being around people. I swing from manic to devastated so fast I can’t keep up. So I switch to autopilot. My beautiful son is buried in the ground and I have to keep going. I have to accept that he is gone but I can’t. I hated his autism. I hated that he was so tormented by his own brain but I loved him. I miss him so much and I’m so angry with myself. I let the world make me feel like I had to fix him. I spent so much time doing that. I wish I could tell him that I’m sorry. That he was perfect. It was the world that wasn’t good enough for him. That’s what needed to be fixed.” Jennifer

“We lose so many children with autism to drowning. The rates of children being diagnosed is rising. It’s time to ensure that the services needed to meet the rise in autism are readily available. If I had access to a swim instructor who was qualified to teach my son, I wouldn’t have hesitated to get him involved. Unfortunately, the access wasn’t there, and the worst happened.” Jennifer Risch, when asked what you would like to come from this tragedy.

Our Mission

In his memory children will get these lifesaving skills. We have an amazing angel guiding us on this part of the Special Fishie journey. What we do can not be shared in one location. What we do needs to be done everywhere, for everyone no matter finances or location. We can and will make it happen!

Drownings happen because most instructors fail the ones that aren’t “typical” learners. Most are stuck in their ways of teaching and not able to see that all children are different and therefore learn differently.

Drownings are silent.

Drownings is the number one cause of death in children 4 and under.

Drownings is the number one cause of death for children with special needs throughout childhood!

As parents we take our child to a lesson and watch as they “fail”. Teachers say they can’t be taught. Parents, we believe them.

This is not true! Every child is teachable.

Even though many can’t talk, they still communicate with their eyes, hands, body, attitude and facial expression. We have to be humble and open enough to hear what they are saying.

That is what sets Special Fishies apart from all other swim programs out there. Each student that we meet is a brand-new experience. We get to find the key to unlock their freedom together. By freedom I mean not just safety but real freedom! Children on the Autism spectrum, Down Syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder and any other childhood disorder that affects judgment and safety are drawn to water. Water is not only a physical attraction but an attraction physiological as well. For a child on the spectrum their vestibular system works differently.

The vestibular system is an incredible system your body has. It’s basically an internal gps that tells your body where it is in space in relation to gravity. When you swim your vestibular system is challenged in a different way than it is on land. A child that feels disconnected out of water finds a connection with their bodies in the water. A connection they instinctively crave. Swimming is a sensory seeker dream place. Lowers anxiety and produces more serotonin. A child after a swim session is more focused, attentive and happy which carries over through their day.

The First Step

Special Fishies has been asked to collaborate with a new non-profit, A.W.A.K.E.N Project. We will be able to travel up to Kern County, CA for retreats on a quarterly basis. Here is a description of these amazing retreats:

Annie Ybarra, I am the President and co-founder of the recently developing non profit, The A.W.A.K.E.N Project. My team and I create revitalizing holistic healing retreats for children on the spectrum and their families. Through a specialized transformational nutrition plan and various therapies as well as treatments we strive to bring significant and demonstrable healing to children on the spectrum, and an ultimate rejuvenation for parents that is so badly needed.

This venture is one in the line of many to come. We plan on partnering with a organizations such as the JCC and/or YMCA and educate facilities to make these lessons available to everyone everywhere.

We plan on monthly park playdates to educate public on drowning prevention at adaptive playgrounds all over California and the West, just to start!

Special Fishies has also invited to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times in Mountain Center, California next year.

The Second Step

We are making an ebook and video series that parents and teachers can get to teach their own child/student.

We will be offering Facetime/Skype sessions for parents and teachers to help through. Once someone goes through training or takes a Fishie class they become a part of the Fishie family. Together we can make a difference and stop the drownings! One life saved is one family that won’t be broken forever.

We need donations for travel expenses, learning tools, education supplies, and help getting all these programs off the ground. It takes a village and we need ours to make this vision happen.

Help us take Special Fishies statewide! We can, and with your help and generosity we will!

Sponsorship Levels

Adopt a Fishie packages….

Get updates on your Fishie’s progress and breakthroughs!

$780 for a year of Group Swim for one Fishie 1x week

$1560 For a year of Semi Private for one Fishie 1x week

$2600 For a year of Private Lessons for one Fishie one time a week

Or become a Sponsored Member through your business

Guppy~ $1000 year automatic payment ($83 a month) comes with newsletter, Tshirt and mention on Social Media and connect to our website.

Dolphin~ $2000/year ($166/mo) Same as Guppy but Logo on marketing material.

Great White Shark~ $4000/year ($333.33/mo) Same as above with mention at all events, logo on all marketing material and promoted on social media.